Nationwide/Barclays failing to transfer ISA allowance following bereavement

itm2

I have been trying to transfer an ISA allowance from an ISA which my late father held with Barclays Smart Investor to my Mum's Nationwide account. The ISA itself was cashed in (and transferred to my mother) 6 months after my father's death in December 2019, but was not put in an ISA account at that time. So in November 2020 I applied to the Nationwide to transfer my father's ISA allowance from the Barclays ISA to an Inheritance ISA in my Mum's name. The ISA would then be funded using the funds which had been transferred from the Barclays ISA to my Mum's (non-ISA) Nationwide account.
After several months, and several chase-ups, we were advised by Nationwide that Barclays had not responded within the statutory timeframe, so they had cancelled the transfer request. We submitted a new application in March this year (the same as the original one), but have just been advised that, once again, Nationwide have been unable to get a response from Barclays so have cancelled the application again.
We are now fast running out of time to complete the transfer, as December 25th will be the 2nd anniversary of my father's passing.
Does anyone have any advice for how we can get Barclays and/or Nationwide to get their act together and complete this transfer?

masonic

Has she considered opening a Barclays cash ISA to receive the additional permitted subscription, then transfer it to Nationwide? She can then deal directly with Barclays as a customer.

Also, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-additional-permitted-subscriptions-into-an-isa#when-subscriptions-can-be-made suggests that the time limit "for cash subscriptions, [is] within 3 years of the date of death"

itm2

masonic said:

Has she considered opening a Barclays cash ISA to receive the additional permitted subscription, then transfer it to Nationwide? She can then deal directly with Barclays as a customer.

Also, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-additional-permitted-subscriptions-into-an-isa#when-subscriptions-can-be-made suggests that the time limit "for cash subscriptions, [is] within 3 years of the date of death"

Thanks - it's good to know that I still have a year left to get this done.
Interesting suggestion re. Mum opening a Barclays Cash ISA - I suppose it would shorten the chain of communication a little.
So I just had a 40 minute phone call with Barclays to discuss this. I was transferred from one department to another, waited 20+ minutes for that department to get a reply from another department (since they didn't know how to handle this), and was eventually told that I would get a call back. I'm not holding my breath.
I'm beginning to see why Nationwide never got a reply back from Barclays. After nearly a year....

itm2

So I've just been on the phone to Barclays and they have told me that the transfer of the APS ISA allowance is now not possible because the original ISA was liquidated in June 2020 and the proceeds transferred as cash.
As the link provided above states that the time limit for cash subscriptions is 3 years from the date of death, have I misunderstood something, or have Barclays given me the wrong information?

masonic

itm2 said:

So I've just been on the phone to Barclays and they have told me that the transfer of the APS ISA allowance is now not possible because the original ISA was liquidated in June 2020 and the proceeds transferred as cash.
As the link provided above states that the time limit for cash subscriptions is 3 years from the date of death, have I misunderstood something, or have Barclays given me the wrong information?

That's not correct, raise a formal complaint. It's actually quite common for customer service people to get the ISA rules wrong, but in this case they've had several opportunities to look at this and you've got nowhere.

xylophone

Had you seen this?

https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/content/obtaining-additional-isa-allowances-following-the-death-of-your-spouse-or-civil-partner.pdf

Since 3 December 2014, where a person holding an ISA passes away and that person was married or in a civil partnership, the surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to an extra ISA allowance – which is equal to the value of the ISA(s) held by the deceased (even where the spouse or civil partner does not actually inherit the ISA). This is referred to as the additional permitted subscription (APS) allowance.

It is immaterial that the account was closed. It is the allowance that is transferable.

itm2

xylophone said:

Had you seen this?

https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/content/obtaining-additional-isa-allowances-following-the-death-of-your-spouse-or-civil-partner.pdf

Since 3 December 2014, where a person holding an ISA passes away and that person was married or in a civil partnership, the surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to an extra ISA allowance – which is equal to the value of the ISA(s) held by the deceased (even where the spouse or civil partner does not actually inherit the ISA). This is referred to as the additional permitted subscription (APS) allowance.

It is immaterial that the account was closed. It is the allowance that is transferable.

Thanks for that. Barclays never responded to my last phone call, so I guess a formal complaint is now the most sensible option. I'm surprised at the quality of service - I'd have at least expected them to understand the regulations, even if they were painfully slow to execute. My Mum has recently been charged about £400 in tax for interest on her unwrapped savings, so this incompetence has come at a cost to her.

itm2

So....having sent a formal letter of complaint to Barclays more than a month ago I haven't had so much as an acknowledgement of my letter. I've also had confirmation from Nationwide that they sent Barclays 5 chase-up letters over the course of 5 months this year, and also got no response.
Any ideas for where to take this next?

GrumpyDil

I believe Barclays have 6 weeks to respond. 

Did you make sure you sent this to their complaints team and get proof of posting as pretty much the first step in a complaints process would normally be to acknowledge the complaint?

masonic

Barclays have 8 weeks to respond to a complaint before the matter can be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The complaint should be made by one of the methods outlined in Barclays' complaints process, which includes by post to "Freepost Barclays Customer Relations" or by telephone to the freephone number they list for this purpose. According to their complaints process, they should respond with an acknowledgement and complaint reference number within 24 hours of receiving your complaint, so if you've heard nothing after a few days of them reasonably having received it, it would be wise to follow up by phone.

itm2

I just phoned Barclays and my letter of complaint had not been registered on their system. Not surprising I suppose, considering none of the Nationwide's attempts to contact them had yielded any results either. I've been given an email for their complaints department, so have repeated the complaint via that channel.
Here we go again.....